Abstract
A disconformity and lag deposit that separates the Tallahatta and Lisbon Formations along Pigeon Creek near Red Level, Covington County, Alabama contains chondrichthyan, actinopterygian, and osteichthyan remains belonging to: Nebrius obliquus (Leidy, 1877); Striatolamia macrota Agassiz, 1843; Brachycarcharias lerichei Casier, 1946; Hypotodus verticalis Agassiz, 1843; Carcharocles auriculatus Blainville, 1818; Pachygaleus cf. P. lefevrei Daimeries, 1891; Galeocerdo latidens Agassiz, 1843; Abdounia recticona (Winkler, 1873); Abdounia enniskilleni (White, 1956); Physogaleus secundus (Winkler, 1876); Orectolobus sp.; Scyliorhinus sp.; Rhizoprionodon sp.; Pristis sp.; Aetobatus sp.; cf. Aetomylaeus sp.; Leidybatis jugosus Leidy, 1876; Rhinoptera sp.; Pycnodus sp.; Lepisosteus sp.; Albula sp.; Egertonia sp.; Cylindracanthus rectus Agassiz, 1843; Sphyraena sp.; Triciurides cf. T. sagittidens Winkler, 1874; Scomberomorus sp.; and Ariodea gen. indet. This fossil fish assemblage is similar to other contemporaneous nearshore faunas found throughout Alabama, the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains, and elsewhere globally. The accumulation and concentration of fossil remains between the Tallahatta and Lisbon Formations are the result of third order eustatic sea level fluctuation prior to Late Eocene climatic cooling and global sea level regression at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary. Fish fossils along Pigeon Creek reflect a complex taphonomic history of exhumation, transport, and reburial across a shallow middle Cenozoic Shelf. The Pigeon Creek assemblage refines bathymetric interpretations of previously reported fossil fish assemblages and demonstrates the utility of Middle Eocene fossil fish in local, regional, and global stratigraphic correlation.